Chapter 4 memories
Sage POV
HELP MESage jumped out of bead. He thought for a minute that he had heard Ryo scream for help through the bond, but it couldn't have been Ryo. He must have been imagining it. He couldn't really call it a scream either, it was more like a whispered plea, there was so much static noise around it. He wondered if anyone else in the house heard it. Probably not. The only reason he had even heard was because of his gift. Sage went back to sleep.
Ryo POV
Ryo heard a knocking noise. He knew he had been walking for a while and was now in some other part of the city, but he wasn't real sure where he was or how he had gotten there. He was still with his grandma so it was ok. He was still safe.
"Well young man this is where we leave each other I would think. This is the address that you gave me. So your home." The lady turned and smiled at Ryo
Just then the door to the house opened and a lady stepped out.
"Oh you must be this boys mother. I found him trying to get on a bus to get home from a park quite a long way from here. You should look after him better. I know how hard it can be to care for a boy with autism. They see things differently than we do, and they're especially hard to handle at this age."
The lady, for a moment looked stunned. She looked at Ryo trying to place who he was. Then something changed in her eyes. They took on a more evil look when she realized that this was her husband's stupid boy.
"He can be a handful sometimes. We have thought many times of sending him to a home where maybe he could receive more supervision. You see my husband I both have to work to afford to pay for his special needs. It's just so hard for us to find people to watch him when we are gone. The neighbors were supposed to watch him last week but they left for a few minutes and when they came back he was gone. We have been so worried about him." By this time Ryo's "mother" was crying tears of relief at finding her poor lost boy.
"Well I can come by time to time to keep an eye on him if you wish." The elderly lady gave the young woman her telephone number "I am just happy to have helped." Then she turned to leave.
Ryo turned to leave with her. This wasn't his mother. He needed to stay with his grandma until she found his mother, but someone behind him pulled him into the house.
"Boy I thought that we told you not to come back here ever again." The lady had thrown Ryo into a wall. He just sat there stunned, looking up at her. "We warned you what would happen if you did." She kicked Ryo in the stomach "I should just get rid of you now…. But I think I'll keep you around, we can have some fun. Just like old times huh Ryo." She got some rope and while Ryo lay dazed on the floor tied his hands behind his back. "Get up boy! Your father will be here soon and I don't want him to know you're here just yet."
Ryo registered that he needed to get up. His body seemed to know how to get up with his hands tied behind his back, even if his brain didn't. He felt himself being pushed towards a closed door. Somehow he knew that there was a basement behind that door and that he had spent a lot of time in there. The voices had left. He could think without feeling like he was on drugs now, but he was still recovering from so many intrusions into his mind. The door was opened and he was pushed down the stairs.
When he landed at the bottom he could see a teddy bear not far away from where he had fallen. It was missing an eye and looked like it had been there for a long while. Next to it was a red blanket with flames embroidered on it. In the middle there was a word, he could just barely make it out Ryo and then he remembered…her name was Lydia…
"Daddy why do we have to leave? I don't want to leave." Said a very young boy. The boy was carrying a red blanket and a teddy bear.
"Ryo, we have to leave. We need to move into the city."
"But why daddy?" Ryo was beginning to cry
"Listen Ryo, we are moving and that's the end of it. I am tired of listening to you whine. Your mom may have put up with it but I am not going to have a crybaby for a son."
"I don't want to move." Tears were streaming down Ryo's face "I want to stay here. Please don't…"
"Ryo I said SHUT UP!" Ryo's dad drew back his fist and hit Ryo across the face. Ryo didn't know what to do. Nobody had ever hit him before. He had been spanked but this was different. He didn't stop crying. "Do not ever cry do you hear me. I don't want you to cry or whine again in my presence." He hit Ryo again across the face and this time Ryo didn't cry.
It was a few months later that he was introduced to Lydia.
Ryo was in his room, waiting. He knew that his father was going to be home soon and he needed to be ready. Ever since they had moved to this house the beatings had become more common. He was never sure when to expect it but he knew one was always coming. At first whenever he was hit he couldn't help but cry, but he was a fast learner. He never cried anymore. Ryo tensed. He could hear his father coming down the hallway.
"Ryo I would like you to meet your new mother." A woman walked into Ryo's room. At first Ryo thought she was his mother. They had the same hair color and the same way of walking but Lydia's eyes were full of hatred where his mom's eyes had been full of love.
"She is not my mother. I don't want her here. Make her go away." At this his father punched him across the face. By this time though Ryo was used to this. He lowered his eyes and tried not to move. He knew that any movement would result in another hit to his face.
"Togoro what do you think your doing, hitting your boy like that." At first Ryo thought Lydia was going to stop his father from hitting him again, but then he realized he was mistaken. "If your going to punish the kid you have to make sure you don't do any damage to his face or hands. He has to go to school soon and if he shows up with all of these bruises on his face questions are going to be asked." It was after this that Ryo's life became a living nightmare.
Lydia enjoyed coming up with new ways to torture Ryo. Within the first week of her being there he was kicked out of his bedroom with only his blanket and his teddy bear and sent to live in the basement. Every night Lydia would tie his hands behind his back and then toss him down the stairs. In the morning Lydia would wake him up by throwing a lit match onto the ground near his head. The match would catch the wood of the basement floor on fire. It would get real close to Ryo's head before he would wake up and put it out. Lydia loved playing with fire. Ryo had the burn marks on his arms to prove it.
One of the worst times Ryo remembered from his time spent with Lydia and his father was when Togoro brought home the bat. It was Ryo's birthday.
"Ryo come on out." Togoro yelled down the stairs
Ryo wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Over the past year his father was never the one to wake him up or tell him to come out of his room. It was always Lydia, so he could come and play one of her games with her. He wasn't sure he wanted to come out. In the basement he was safe. They wouldn't come down there. It was too dark and smelled like old blood and rotting food, but Ryo didn't mind. During his time spent down here he had come to recognize the smell as a place of safety. He didn't move towards the open door at the top of stairs. Instead he hugged his teddy bear closer to him.
"Ryo get up here now. We're not going to do anything to you. It's your birthday you know" Lydia was using her sweetest voice. This scared part of Ryo because Lydia only used that voice when they were going to play a very very painful game, but another part of him, the part that hoped that his parents would love him and treat him like before when his mother was alive, told him that it was ok. They weren't going to do anything to him. He ran up the stairs.
"Happy 9th Birthday Ryo!" yelled Togoro and Lydia together "Look what we got you for your birthday!" Ryo unwrapped the gift. It was a baseball bat. It was the only gift he had received since his mother had died. "Here let me show you how to use it." Togoro picked the bat up and showed Ryo the correct stance to use when swinging the bat.
The innocent part in Ryo had convinced him totally that his parents were going to love him now. It was going to be just like before. They weren't going to beat him anymore and then all his hope and innocence was crushed with one statement.
"Here stand right here and I'll show you how hard to swing the bat, if you want a homerun." Then there was pain. He was on his knees now and his father was continuing to hit him with bat and the whole time he was counting. Ryo didn't realize it until later but Togoro was doing the birthday countdown. He hit Ryo nine times and then gave him one more to grow on. Then they both laughed at Ryo calling him worthless and stupid.
Ryo didn't hear what it was they were calling him. He was trying to breathe. He knew that he had at least three broken ribs…
It wasn't long after school started back that Ryo finally was taken away.
"You have to wear the school uniform with the jacket on constantly to cover the bruises. We can't have anyone asking questions around here can we or they might find out what a terrible little boy you are and put you in jail." Lydia was saying as she dressed Ryo in his school uniform.
Ryo nodded his head. He knew that it was his fault that Lydia and his dad always had to hit him. If he would just be a good boy then they wouldn't have to hit him. He didn't want to go to jail. He was actually happy that Togoro and Lydia were willing to keep him and try to teach him wrong from right.
Ryo had heard his father and Lydia saying it so often that he just accepted it as true. None of the other boys in the neighborhood were hit or in trouble so often. It just made sense. It must be his fault.
"All right the bus is here. Get out of here."
It was about the second week of school that everything changed. The school was having required physicals because of some new disorder that showed itself in elementary students. When he found out that he was going to have to take off his jacket and uniform shirt, Ryo panicked. They were going to find out about him being a bad person and send him to jail. He tried to leave school but he got caught and was made to go back to the line waiting to get physicals. By some stroke of luck he managed to be last in line, but he wasn't able to get away. After his first attempt a teacher was watching him constantly. Ryo kept looking for a way out of this. He was fidgeting and watching the teacher constantly in the hope that he would look away for just a moment. He never did. It was his turn.
"Ok, let's see who is left. Oh yes a Mr. Ryo Sanada." Said the elderly school nurse. She found Ryo with his teacher escort sitting on one of the sofas in the waiting area. "Ah you must be the one that tried to sneak out aren't you." She didn't notice Ryo go pale "Well your next, so just come with me and will get this over with."
She took Ryo into the office and started taking notes for the doctor.
"Ok step up here and let's see how much you weigh." Ryo did as he was told, "Hmm, you're underweight. You need to make sure your parents start feeding you more." Ryo nodded numbly. He knew what was coming they were going to see the bruises and he was going to have to tell them that he was bad. They were going to send him to jail.
"Well I'll be right back with the doctor."
Ryo looked around desperately for a way out of this but he couldn't find one. The only way out was the way he came in and he knew that was still guarded by a teacher.
"Well if it isn't our little escape artist." The Doctor said cheerfully as he came into the room. "Ok Ryo I need you to take off your jacket and your shirt."
"No"
"No? Ryo I am not going to hurt you. It's just a routine test. Come on take them off."
"No"
"Ryo if you don't take them off I am going to have to take them off myself."
"NO" Ryo was yelling now and shaking like a leaf. He didn't want the doctor to see. No one was supposed to see. The doctor reached for him and Ryo lost it. He began kicking and screaming. He even tried to bite the doctor.
"Nurse get in here now!" the doctor yelled through the door "And bring a very light sedative." A few minutes later the nurse came in to a still screaming Ryo.
"Here doctor" she handed the sedative to the doctor. He looked at it just long enough to make sure that it wouldn't knock Ryo out, only make him feel sluggish and a little sleepy, before injecting it into the vein in Ryo's neck. The effect was almost immediate. Ryo stopped screaming and his kicks and punches were weak and slow moving. The doctor backed off for a minute to catch his breath before speaking.
"That kid must have some fear of doctors to be so afraid. You would have thought I was going to kill him or something. All right lets see what we've got." The doctor moved back towards Ryo and picked him up so that he was in a sitting position. "Ryo, think you can sit up like this for me?" at Ryo's slow nod the doctor went back to work unbuttoning Ryo's jacket. He grabbed Ryo's arm and started to pull the jacket off. "Oh my God! Nurse! Get child welfare on the phone and call the police." The nurse took one look at what the doctor had seen and rushed out the door. Ryo's whole arm was covered in layers of bruises ranging from the healing green ones to the new purple and black ones and, there were a few spots that looked like burns mixed in. They stopped just a little before his wrists. "No wonder you didn't want to take your jacket off."
The doctor finished taking the jacket off. It did not surprise the doctor that the other arm was in the same shape. "Ok Ryo. I am going to take your shirt off and then you can lie back down if you want. Ok?" Ryo nodded slowly meeting the doctor's eyes with his glazed ones. Not wanting to hurt Ryo more than necessary he got out his scissors and cut the shirt off. "Shit," Ryo's chest was covered in dark black bruises that stretched all the way across his chest, "Who would do this to a kid?"
"Birthday was a couple of weeks ago" Ryo slurred "I got a bat" He giggled a little.
Despite the words slurring together the Doctor caught what he said. He just didn't understand what he was talking about. What could his birthday and a bat have to do with anything? Then he looked at the shapes of the bruises. They were shaped like the side of a bat…
"Ryo you can lay down now if you want." Ryo nodded and obediently laid down and in a short period of time was asleep.
"Doctor, child welfare is here."
"Send them in."
"Doctor, my name is Sonya. I was called here because there was a possible case of child abuse?"
"Yes this boy over here." The doctor moved aside so that Sonya could see. "I had to give him a mild sedative in order to get him to let me take his coat and shirt off. So he can't answer questions right now."
"I see. Well did he tell you anything, anything at all?"
"The only thing I got from him before he fell asleep was that the bruises on his chest came from a bat that he received for his birthday."
Sonya wrote what the doctor had said down. "Well while he is asleep we can get the pictures taken and finish the physical exam. Usually I wouldn't do that but considering how much work it was just to let you take his shirt off, I don't think he will cooperate for the physical or his picture being taken over and over. I assume that you being a school doctor have already been trained in creating files on child welfare cases?"
"Yes I have"
"Well if you have any questions or the boy should wake up, I am going to be in the office just outside talking to the police about apprehending his parents and placing him in temporary police custody." With that said Sonya left the doctor to do his job and went to finish hers.
"Nurse Becklem I am going to need your assistance with this please." The doctor worked to finish undressing Ryo leaving him only in his boxers. Ryo's legs were in little better condition than his arms. It also became painfully obvious that Ryo was severely malnourished. "How much does his chart say he weighs?"
"He is a little over 40 pounds." Replied the nurse
"A boy his height should be closer to 60 than 40." The doctor made a notation on the welfare chart. "Ok nurse we have to get the pictures of injuries for the custody trial so I am going to hold him up in different positions and I want you to take the pictures." The nurse did as she was told and through all the movements and changes in position Ryo remained asleep. When he was through with the pictures he had the nurse leave so he could finish the physical.
He took out the voice recorder because this section had to be documented on paper and by recording. "Boy is nine years of age and has suffered obvious abuse to his chest, arms, and legs. It appears that the abuse has been going on for some time. The bruises on his arms, that are healing, appear to be deep tissue bruising which takes months to reach the state that they are now. Also he is malnourished, approximately 20 pounds underweight for a child his age and height. There are signs that he was at some point battered around the head. X-rays show old trauma to the brain and also broken ribs. There is no sign of sexual assault." The doctor finished his report.
When he looked up Ryo was whimpering in his sleep. "Ryo, wake up. Come on Ryo its just a bad dream…" The doctor stopped talking when he realized what it was that Ryo was saying.
"Thank you for teaching me my lesson. I don't want to go to jail. Thank you for punishing me instead of letting the police get me." Tears were beginning to stream down his face. The doctor reached over and gently picked Ryo up and held him.
"Ryo it's just a dream. Wake up now." The doctor was rocking Ryo back and forth in his arms in an attempt to comfort him. Slowly Ryo's eyes opened. "Ryo why didn't you want me to know that you were being abused?" It was something that had been bothering him ever since he had found out the truth about the boy.
"Lydia said that if anyone saw, the police would come and they would find out what a bad boy I am. They would take me to jail. I don't want to go to jail. Please don't let them take me." Ryo was crying now and holding onto the doctor's coat as if his life depended on it.
"Ryo it will be OK. The police are here but they're not here to take you to jail. They're here to talk to you and then they're going to get your parents. I don't have much more time with you and I know that this is going to hard for you to understand right now, but I want you to know that its not your fault. What your parents did to you had nothing to do with you and what they did was wrong. You might not believe me now but I want you to remember…"
The rest of that time in Ryo's life was a blur of confused images. People asking him questions, camera's taking pictures for newspapers, a trial, and then a foster home after foster home. Even now he didn't remember it clearly. It was to distorted and confused.
Ryo looked around the basement. It was just the way he remembered it. His few little toys sitting near his teddy bear and the empty food trays piled over in the corner. After remembering what had happened to him as a young boy he almost felt the same as he had before the voices started in his head. That was when he realized that there weren't voices. There was only one and it was small.
Food hungry food. Human fear hide hideA mouse he realized. It was moving around in the old food trays. Ryo sat up. He knew the voice was a mouse. If he could figure that out then maybe he could control the voices.
"I could learn to control it and then I could go back to the guys. If they would take me back." Ryo had become so excited that he had started talking out loud. He realized now that even though he felt normal again, except for the mouse voice, that he had treated his friends terribly and now he was back at home with his parents. The last thought made him shudder. Now that he remembered, he knew that this wasn't the best place for him to be.
He heard a door open upstairs and heavy footsteps walking on the floor. He recognized those steps. His nine-year-old self made sure of that. His father was home…